A wide range of manufactured materials are employed in the construction and finishing of buildings and homes. The materials may be in the form of siding, trim and decking, for example. These manufactured materials include natural wood, such as cedar, fir, pine and so on, cementitious boards, plywood, medium density overlay (typically a high quality paper saturated with phenolic resin overlaid upon an exterior grade plywood core), vinyl panels, etc.
The use of the above manufactured materials in building construction for roofs, siding and roofs is well known. Despite being a relatively “low-tech” material, wood, for example, continues to be a preferred building material for a number of reasons. Wood may be used in an almost unlimited number of configurations and in a wide variety of applications. Because natural wood has low cost, good durability, flexibility application options, ease of installation, high availability, and consistent performance combined with good looks it is used in many such exterior applications.
Because wood is a natural material, it is subject to weathering by exposure to environmental conditions, such as sun, hail, ice and snow, moisture, temperature, wind as well as biological degradation, such as by insects, plants, fungi, etc. Non-wood manufactured materials used in exterior building applications can suffer from similar degradation from the environment. In response, wood-based and other manufactured materials are typically provided with some sort of protectant such as, for example, paint or stain or the like for coloring, preserving and/or protecting the building material.
Application of the protectant on site, while frequently done, may be fraught with risk and is inefficient. Risks include wet materials, temperature-related problems, product contamination, weather delays, wood splitting, cupping and other problems. In response, manufacturers have developed machinery to apply paint and stain to board products and as a result, manufactured board products are available to contractors and the like in a pre-painted or pre-stained condition. A disadvantage of this process is the lack of flexibility regarding protectant materials and colors. Furthermore, modification of the manufactured boards or products is not possible after a final application of protectant.
Machines are available to contractors and others, which variously apply paint or stain and the like to manufactured building products. To date these machines suffer from a lack of flexibility and easy cleaning and changeovers.
It can be appreciated that there is a demand for a device that meets a majority of the above needs and can be easily adapted for various protectants, sizes of manufactured building products and maintained and cleaned with a minimum of expended time or cost. The present invention satisfies this demand.